Journos jailed in Ethiopia: Sweden turns to EU, US

Stockholm: Sweden has asked the United States and the EU for help in securing the release of two journalists sentenced to 11 years in an Ethiopian prison on Tuesday for supporting terrorism, a Swedish diplomat said.

"We are continuing to work at all levels and on different tracks to ensure their liberation as soon as possible," Swedish state secretary for foreign affairs, Frank Belfrage, told the TT news agency, adding that the tracks included contacts with the United States and the European Union.

Reporter Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson were arrested in Ethiopia`s Ogaden region on July 1 in the company of rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) after entering Ethiopia from Somalia.

"We of course consider this sentence to be extremely serious," Belfrage said today, reiterating Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt`s position that Schibbye and Persson were in Ethiopia on "a journalistic mission."

An Addis Ababa court today sentenced the pair to 11 years behind bars after they were found guilty last week of "supporting terrorism."

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who has come under fire for not doing enough to help the pair amid reports of a conflict of interest, did not immediately react to today`s sentence.

Swedish media revealed in September the pair was in the remote southeastern region of Ogaden, populated mainly by ethnic Somalis, to investigate the activities of a company affiliated to the Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum, which counted Bildt as a board member from 2000 until 2006 when he was appointed foreign minister.